The Giro


Ciao!

There are loads of previews out there, to analyse the favourites and give you the stage details. There’s even a handy iPhone app.

Instead I’ve got three extra thoughts.

First, the Giro is the most visually attractive race on the calendar. The Tour de France has its fine moments but it also has very dull sections spend travelling across quasi-industrial farmland. The Tour of Italy just seems to have more scenery more often.

Next, the race still has a romance that perhaps the Tour de France lacks. Whilst the Tour has become the biggest and the best, the Giro has a less corporate feel. But this romance is being undermined, countless doping scandals are hitting the credibility of the race. Whilst this is always a race were an exciting Italian emerges to dynamite the race, sometimes it is a matter of time before the CONI catches them. Here’s hoping the 2010 vintage can enhance the sporting mythology, not bury it.

Finally, the TV coverage is very good. Rai will be broadcasting many hours of the race and you should find loads of helpful streams on the internet. The production itself is very good, the cameramen know their stuff. Plus expect some classic shots of bikinis on the beach as the race rolls past, the producer will let the camera linger a bit too long.